CHETTUS1A. 231 



half, then black, with narrow white tips ; upper breast black ; 

 lower breast, abdomen, axillaries, and inner under wing-coverts 

 white ; lower tail-coverts pale dull rufous. 



In spring the fulvous edges on the upper plumage disappear, 

 and the crown, sides of face in front of the eye, and a patch be- 

 neath the eye, with the chin, throat, fore neck, and upper breast, 

 become black. 



Bill black ; irides hazel-brown ; legs orange-brown (Jerdon). 



Length 12 ; tail 4*1 ; wing 8'75 ; tarsus 2 ; bill from gape 1'2. 



Distribution. Throughout Europe and temperate Asia ; a winter 

 visitor to both coasts of the Mediterranean, to many parts of 

 South-western Asia, and to North-western India. The Lapwing 

 occurs in winter in Gilgit, Kashmir, the Punjab, and as far east 

 as Oudh, and throughout Bind, where however it is not common. 

 It has been said to breed in the Punjab, but the accuracy of the 

 statement is doubtful. 



Habits, fyc. The common Lapwing is a highly gregarious bird, 

 collecting in winter in large flocks, which are chiefly found about 

 marshy ground, and which feed in fields or meadows. It lives 

 chiefly on worms, and on insects and their larvae, and is eatable in 

 the cold season, though far inferior to Golden Plover. Its call 

 of Pee-wit is well known, and also its habit of tumbling about in 

 the air. The eggs are the well-known 4t Plover's eggs." 



Genus CHETTUSIA, Bonap., 1839. 



Two Indian migratory Plovers, though differing somewhat in 

 pattern of coloration, and slightly in structure, are sufficiently 

 nearly allied to be classed in one genus. They have been separated 

 by Sharpe, but the new generic name proposed by him for C. leu- 

 eura cannot be used, as it belongs to a well-known genus of fossil 

 Crustacea. 



The present genus differs from Vandlus in wanting a crest, 

 and in having much white on the wings inside and out. The 

 tarsi are longer, but the two species differ in this respect, and also 

 in the style of reticulation, C. leucura being almost scutellated. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Some black on the tail ; a broad white supercilium. C. gregaria, p. 231. 



b. Tail entirely white ; no superciliu in. C. leuciira, p. 233. 



1437. Chettusia gregaria. The Sociable Lapwing. 



Charadrius gregarius, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reicks, i, p. 456 (1771). 

 Chettusia gregaria, Bonap. Iconogr. Faun. Ital., Introd. Cl. Ucc. p. 12 ; 



Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 238 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 644 ; Bla*f. J. A. S. B. 



xxxviiL pt. 2, p. 190 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 250 ; 



-rr * -wi ,"*f-i A -i ! f c\f\ A TT T 7 - _7 TL.'~ 1O^7O 



Jiume, 

 p. 416; 

 Wend. 



